Abstract
Clinical experience with Rhesus (Rh) disease and its post-icteric sequelae is limited among high-income countries because of nearly over four decades of effective prevention care. We hypothesized that Rh disease is prevalent in other regions of the world because it is likely that protection is limited or non-existent. Following a worldwide study, it has been concluded that Rh hemolytic disease is a significant public health problem resulting in stillbirths and neonatal deaths, and is a major cause of severe hyperbilirubinemia with its sequelae, kernicterus and bilirubin-induced neurologic dysfunction. Knowing that effective Rh-disease prophylaxis depends on maternal blood-type screening, healthcare afforded to the high-risk mothers needs to be free of bottlenecks and coupled with unfettered access to effective Rh-immunoglobulin. Future studies that match the universal identification of Rh-negative status of women and targeted use of immunoprophylaxis to prevent childhood bilirubin neurotoxicity are within reach, based on vast prior experiences.
TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of Rhesus disease on the global problem of bilirubin-induced neurologic dysfunction.
AU - Zipursky,Alvin,
AU - Bhutani,Vinod K,
Y1 - 2015/01/09/
PY - 2015/1/14/entrez
PY - 2015/1/15/pubmed
PY - 2016/1/1/medline
KW - Bilirubin
KW - Bilirubin-induced neurologic dysfunction (BIND)
KW - Minor neurologic dysfunction
KW - Rhesus disease
KW - Subtle bilirubin injury
SP - 2
EP - 5
JF - Seminars in fetal & neonatal medicine
JO - Semin Fetal Neonatal Med
VL - 20
IS - 1
N2 - Clinical experience with Rhesus (Rh) disease and its post-icteric sequelae is limited among high-income countries because of nearly over four decades of effective prevention care. We hypothesized that Rh disease is prevalent in other regions of the world because it is likely that protection is limited or non-existent. Following a worldwide study, it has been concluded that Rh hemolytic disease is a significant public health problem resulting in stillbirths and neonatal deaths, and is a major cause of severe hyperbilirubinemia with its sequelae, kernicterus and bilirubin-induced neurologic dysfunction. Knowing that effective Rh-disease prophylaxis depends on maternal blood-type screening, healthcare afforded to the high-risk mothers needs to be free of bottlenecks and coupled with unfettered access to effective Rh-immunoglobulin. Future studies that match the universal identification of Rh-negative status of women and targeted use of immunoprophylaxis to prevent childhood bilirubin neurotoxicity are within reach, based on vast prior experiences.
SN - 1878-0946
UR - https://wwww.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/25582277/Impact_of_Rhesus_disease_on_the_global_problem_of_bilirubin_induced_neurologic_dysfunction_
DB - PRIME
DP - Unbound Medicine
ER -